• Saritha Nair, Lucky Singh, Vijit Deepani, Nongzaimayum Tawfeeq Alee, Saurabh Sharma, Senthanro Ovung, Meena Hijam, Sagolsem Roshan Singh, Sharmila Aheibam, Kh Jitenkumar Singh, Nirendra Haobijam, Harpreet Kaur, and M Vishnu Vardhana Rao.
• ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, New Delhi, India.
• Indian J Med Res. 2022 Aug 1; 156 (2): 330338330-338.

Background & ObjectivesContrary to overall declining trend in smokeless tobacco (SLT) use in India, an increase is observed in north-east (NE) India. This study examined the predictors of daily SLT use by gender and assessed the demographic and socio-economic characteristics that contribute to gender differences in SLT use in NE India.MethodsData collected from 15,259 and 13,574 adults in the two rounds of Global Tobacco Adult Survey 1 and 2 for NE India during 2009-2010 and 2016-2017 were analyzed. Relative change, multivariable binary logistic regression and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis were used for analysis.ResultsThe findings suggest that among women in NE India, the daily SLT use significantly increased by 58 per cent between 2009-2010 to 2016-2017. Women residing in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura were 3.5 and 2.5 times, respectively more likely to be daily SLT users compared to those in Assam. While age, education and wealth were the significant predictors of SLT use in both women and men, increased odds of SLT use were observed with women's type of occupation and the State of residence. The majority of the gender differences in daily SLT use was explained by differences in work status (44%), age (26%), education (14%) and wealth status (9%) between men and women.Interpretation & ConclusionsIncreasing prevalence of SLT use amongst women in the NE States necessitates integration of gender-specific messages on harmful effects of SLT in the ongoing tobacco control programmes and development of culturally appropriate community-based interventions for cessation of SLT use.

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